Hartford Comes Out On Top In April 1 Report On Studies

In the city's latest in a string of national distinctions, Hartford has been named America's most studied region.

From wage studies to political opinion surveys to test markets for cereal, Hartford fits the bill, it seems.

The report, released today, April 1, by the American Quantitative Understanding Association, AQUA, shows that in 2010, Metro Hartford was the subject of 1,125 certified studies, tests and reports. That total beat out Oklahoma City, with 1,027, and No. 3 Seattle, with 982, although Seattle's total included 306 separate reports from the Caffeine Board on the effects of coffee in the workplace.

Experts agreed that Hartford won the distinction because of its citizenry that doesn't get too excited about any one thing other than basketball, and proximity to New York, where researchers can meet with subjects and return home without having to stay the night.

Also, Hartford's wealth -- the metro area is the nation's 15th richest per-capita -- makes it a perfect place for product testing, and its medium size lets researchers compare it to Peoria and Boston at the same time.

The on-demand video site went back in time on April 1, making us all remember what the internet looked like in the 90s. Full of flashing banners, scrolling text and headlines that just read CHECK THIS OUT!

The search giant didn't stop with the one Gmail prank, they also added an extension to Google Chrome that changes all font to Comic Sans. Google's reasoning: "Following some rigorous user testing...we discovered one font consistently outperformed all others"

Richard Branson, CEO of Virgin Atlantic, announced that he was buying Pluto and reinstating it as a planet. Quote from Branson: "Virgin has expanded into many territories over the years, but we have never had our own planet before. This could pave the way for a new age in space tourism."